(US & Canada) VIDEO | We Want to Ensure High Digital Transformation at the Most Analog Levels — Harris Company - Senior Director of Business Automation and Intelligence

Akira Togawa, Senior Director of Business Automation and Intelligence at Harris Company, speaks with Mark Johnson, Regional VP, New Era Technology US and CDO Magazine Editorial Board Chair, in a video interview, about the uncertainties in digital transformation, staying ahead of the transformation curve, putting right policies in place, and bringing technology and digital transformation to business.

Weaving through the uncertainties of rapid digital transformation, Togawa cautions leaders to be aware of what is being conveyed to the operational teams in terms of vision and direction. While the technology and innovation side of the house requires digging many rabbit holes to investigate, leaders must not drag the non-technical space into it.

Leadership must insulate the affected members and stakeholders of the initiative from the commotion and dirty work that comes with project changes, says Togawa.

When asked about strategies to involve the C-Suite in the process, he says a first impression is created while communicating the inception of an initiative. Togawa insists on doing it right as there may not be many chances of getting their audience.

Adding on, he stresses balancing how much information needs to be dispersed and not overloading them with information. Once the C-Suite gets involved, it is critical to understand their role in the initiative.

Taking the instance of a data warehousing project, Togawa mentions the approval mechanism and how the C-Suite needs to understand the ROI and its role before investing. He adds that the organizational executives are willing to help but one needs to ask specifically according to needs.

Togawa states that executives must have a little skin in the game and be aware of the scope of the project to help. Emphasizing staying ahead of the digital transformation curve, he refers to AI as the elephant in the room that organizations need to recognize. Organizations must decide on treading into the future with or without GenAI.

Harris has said yes to Gen AI and is assessing its relationship with the business, and where to apply it, says Togawa. The company asks moral and ethical questions about its usage, such as whether should people be allowed to send AI-generated emails without reviewing them.

Also, it is critical to put policies in place down to the infrastructure level, assessing the creation of private dedicated tendencies or using public AI. Commenting on its newness, Togawa states that AI is a tool, and organizations must be cautious and not lose the forest for the trees.

Moving forward, Togawa proposes the idea of using Generative AI to help with safety on job sites. Elaborating, he says that every time there is a reportable incident on a job site, the metadata is collected accordingly to figure out similar incident patterns.

This enables the company to go to people on the job sites and alert them about the higher risk of occurrence of a particular injury on the job site that day. Further, he mentions combining this with some technologies that can enable scanning if everyone is wearing safety gear at the site.

Concluding, Togawa states that it boils down to bringing technology and digital transformation to the physical level of business. Essentially, the most basic denominator of business is in figuring out ways to ensure high-level digital transformation happens at the most analog level of an organization.

CDO Magazine appreciates Akira Togawa for sharing his insights with our global community.